Bioactivity of Viscum album extracts from Olive and Almond host plants in Palestine

Introduction:Viscum album is a semi-parasitic medicinal plant which has been used for many years as a remedy in traditional medicine. The plant is widely used in folk medicine in Palestine; mainly in the treatment of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Since no previous reports on bio activity of this plant in association with host plant specificity in Palestine, the current study aimed at evaluating bio activity of almond and olive variants of this plant. Method: Methanolic extract ofviscum album cultivated from almond and olive host plants were tested for antioxidant, antimicrobial . Prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) were also used to assess anticoagulant activities of plant extracts. Result: The result demonstrated that Viscum album have an IC₅₀ of 25.34±3.8μg/ml when hosted by olive while the IC₅₀ was 15.37±2.2μg/ml when hosted by almond. Crude extracts of both Viscum album plants showed strong inhibition effects on the growth of the studied Staphylococcus aureus strains (ATCC 25923 and MRSA) with a pronounced effect when extracts of almond host was used. However, the effects of both host extracts were very limited or absent when tested against Gram-negative reference and clinical strains. Plant extracts of both host showed prolonged PT and PTT compared to phosphate buffered saline control solution. Conclusion: In conclusion, variations in the bioactivity of Viscum album is clearly influenced by host type and further studies required to illustrate such variations using other host plants.

Key words: Viscum album, Antioxidant, Prothrombin time, Antimicrobial.